more Christmas

random holiday pictures.

Bleach

I just finished bleaching my kitchen from one end to the other, yeah! You've no idea how long I have been trying to mop the kitchen floor, but I just can't do it unless everything else is clean too, counter tops, sinks, table etc. It finally happened. I think I used up my next 2 days worth of energy, but the kitchen is clean!

Christmas

Here are just a few of our Christmas pictures, I'm sure there will be many more to come!

Christmas Eve in Maryville with Faron's family.


The whole group of Hopper Cousins Alexander and Lane




Isabella, Sophia and Ella dressed up, and wearing their new aprons to eat Christmas Eve dinner. The girls liked the ham (it was their first time to have ham and it was a big hit).


Alexander liked the mashed potatoes!


Isabella, Sophia and Ella making gingerbread houses, constructed by Faron.



Christmas morning in St. Joseph with my family.


Though our kids actually slept until 10 (only because they stayed up til 1 while we were playing games!) we were still the first ones up!


Isabella admiring her new hat and gloves.


Sophia put her hat on Pop and then put pretend makeup on him with the puffs.



Alexander in his new jammies



Watching baby Levi open presents via web cam!

Christmas quotes

While I was packing for our Christmas trips Isabella was messing around with something I was trying to get so I started playing around with her and then asked her if she wanted me to knock her into next week. Then I had to explain what that whole concept was about, that you could hit somebody so hard that they would fly all the way into next week.
So she laughed and said, "You couldn't do that, because next week wouldn't be there." She said some more about how tomorrow isn't there until we get there, so it just isn't possible. "Unless your magic".
This is now, however, her favorite thing to say to everyone else. She threatened to knock many people into next week over our holidays.


On Christmas Isabella was playing with a long tube that she used as a mega phone to tell everyone what to do. She told Grammy and Sophia to "go to sleep, NOW!", the obeyed, but the she said if the didn't the would both get a spanking, because "I'm the bossiest mom in the whole world, I'm even bossier than MY mom!"

Wisdom from Isabella

Isabella was doing her math today and stopped and said, "Jesus doesn't need a magic wand, or any kind of tricky stuff. To make trees and stuff, He just has is own powerful self".

Christmas Time

We did some Christmas Crafts a couple days ago, and of course that means a big mess! I just say it is a good thing that I am not a neat freak or this would never work out. Anyway, the girls painted huge pine cones that we brought back from California with us. the are now green and look like Christmas tree. We also glittered small pine cones. It was a lovely time.

Top baby names of 2006

Top Baby names of 2006

Girl Names

---

1	Emma
2	Madison
3	Ava
4	Emily
5	Isabella
6	Kaitlyn
7	Sophia

Boy Names

---

1	Aiden
2	Jacob
3	Ethan
4	Ryan
5	Matthew
6	Jack
7	Noah
8	Nicholas
9	Joshua
10	Logan
11	Andrew
12	Michael
13	Caden
14	Dylan
15	Tyler
16	Connor
17	Jackson
18	Caleb
19	Jayden
20	Alexander

What is up with names ?? When we picked all these names they were UNUSUAL, or so we thought at least! I had never met an Isabella or a Sophia, now they are everywhere! The girls were in thier class at church last week, a total of 15 kids maybe, and there were 2 Isabella's and 2 Sophia's!!!!!

Christmas picture outakes

Christmas pictures, behind the scenes. It's a crazy time...

Funny Kid stories

I'm just going to keep adding to this post when funny things happen (that I actually remember to blog about), so that they can all stay together.

December 11 2006
I just put the girls to bed, which means they are in their room playing, not sleeping. I'm sitting at the computer and I hear them playing with baby dolls, then Isabella's baby says "Hey, let's just stop all this nonsense and get married!"

June 27th 2006
We are all sitting on the couches in the living room, the girls had just finished a bath and gotten dressed and we were getting ready to go clean their room. Sophia walks into the kitchen and is gone for about a minute, all the sudden she comes running out of the kitchen coughing and gagging. I turn around to look at her and she has brown coming out her mouth and all down her front. I say, "Sophia are you throwing up?" and she just continues to whimper and cough.
So I grabbed her and took her into the bathroom, and now I realize that she is not throwing up, but she has eaten something, it smells familiar, what is that? Faron head to the kitchen to see what he can find, I say to him, "Baking Cocoa?" and he says, "No, Cinnamon".
Ahh, yes, that is the smell. We have a huge economy size container of cinnamon, apparently she opened the top to the pour side and tried to drink it. No wonder she is coughing!
I throw her in the shower to wash the cinnamon off her face, Faron brings a cup of water and she starts rinsing and spitting. We get her all cleaned up, her mouth is all read around her lips from where the cinnamon has "burned" the skin. Now she is clean and dressed again and what does she want? Oatmeal with cinnamon.

May 25th 2006

Yesterday Isabella was coloring and she says to me, "Mama, I know that you and Papa throw away my pictures, because after a while they just dissapear".

Sophia is on the potty, I hear her talking so I go in there, she is singing "disobedient, disobedient" just over and over. I think she had just discovered a funny word!

Sophia came and got in my bed this morning around 6:30. We tried to ignore her so she would go to sleep, but she just sat looking through her picture bible and saying "there's Adam and Eve, and the Nake (snake), there's Sarah, there's him (Esau), he's bad, there's Rachel and Leah..." and all morning she has been singing "Meshach and Abednego..."


My kids are so funny. I'm sure everyone's probably are, but mine just crack me up! Yesterday I come out of my room, after having been there for about 1.5 minutes and start looking for Alexander. He is on the move so there is no telling what room he is in. Then I see it, someone left the bathroom door open and through it, I see the shower curtin wiggle! There he is, just chillin in the shower.


Then there is Isabella, I walk by the countertop and see the cake topper from my wedding cake, the groom just happens to now be wearing a baloon like a hat.



Later, I am fixing Sophia's hair and it is poking up all over the place while I am trying to brush it into a pony tail. Isabella laughs and says "Sophia, you look just like my great-grandfather when he was a baby!"
Where do they come up with thing like this?!

The Crazy Man

He is just wacky!! The first pictures really speak for themselves. The boy loves to make (and be) a mess. His favorite word is dirty. If he can touch someone with those dirty hands, his thrill increases!
Faron thinks he makes himself a bigger mess at the end of dinner to ensure that he will get a bath. I wouldn't put it past him. He does start saying "bath" as soon as he is finished eating, and he doesn't stop saying it until he is in the bath!

There is also a picture of his first snow. He enjoyed the snow, thought it was pretty cool to watch it come down out of the sky. He also discovered the real purpose of gloves, which he calls "love". The first time we went out he didn't his gloves on, and he fell into the snow, getting snow all over his hands. He was shocked and offended at the coldness of this snow and screamed until he did have gloves on.

The last picture shows one of Alexander's other favorite hobbies, getting into my scrabooking supplies. This picture was taken when Faron found him chewing on one of my ink pads. It may look like he has lipstick on, but no, that is pink ink!

Baby time

So it's 6 week's till baby time, and are we close to having names picked out? No. Not at all...We keep looking through the book, 2 books, online, still no leads. Here is our list of possibilities. I like most of them, but non of them are "the" name, yet.

Girl first names (and meanings)
Arianna - Holy
Olivia - Peace
Lylia/Lilya/Lilia - Lilly, symbol of purity
Elena - Light
Ariella - Lion of God

Girl middle names
Nicole

Boy first names
Oliver - Kind one, peace
Nicholas/Nickolas - Victory of the People

Boy middle names
Daniel - God is my Judge
Benjamin - Son of my right hand
Elijah - Jehovah is God
Isaac - Laughter
Micah - Who is like God?
Josiah - Fire of the Lord
Jabin - God has created

wrapping presents

Today we wrapped half of our Christmas presents. Let's just say wrapping presents with a 3 and 4 year old, not relaxing. We finished, and my head didn't explode, I took deep breaths.

Favorite Color

Found this on someone else's blog and thought it was kind of fun!

What does your favorite color say about you?

I found this today on another blog and wanted to share!

What Does Your Favorite Color Say About You?

Red – If red is your favorite color, you are an energetic, passionate and excited person. While impulsive at times, your overall desire is to live life to its fullest. This means you are also competitive, strong, and seek justice for all.

Pink – There is a reason pink is often the color thought of when Baby Girls are mentioned. Sweet, nice, and delicate are often the first words that come to mind when pink is mentioned. You have a romantic side though too and think that love is the world’s greatest gift. More often than not you are they image of happiness and tranquility.

Orange – Did you choose orange as your favorite color? This means you have a high level of energy and tend to become restless when you’re not out saving the world. You get a long well with others as you are very social and hate to be alone. Not only are you a self starter, but you motivate those around you with your intense energy.

Yellow– If you’ve chosen yellow as your favorite color, you are an excellentcommunicator and you breathe warmth into everything you do. You are the life of the party and very imaginative. People swarm to you because you are always cheerful and bright.

Green– Green is a color of health and balance. One of your grand goals is to discover life’s hidden secrets. You’re also a very affectionate and loyal friend who tends to be very frank when asked your opinion. Your reputation is very important to you, so you are always conscious of any decisions you make. By this merit, you also finish what ever you start.

Blue– Of all the colors, blue represents the most creative and artistic of all colors. You excel at anything artistic and musical. These things also stimulate your mind. Above the artistic desires, you crave harmony in all aspects of your life. You have proven yourself as a sensitive and capable person and these traits make you an outstanding friend. You are very cautious in life and are conscientious of your work.

Purple– As a visionary, your life essence is one of spiritual consciousness andawareness. You find it natural to express yourself aesthetically and artistically. As a whole, you believe you are a strong and independent person and others tend to perceive you as a sensitive and observant. These artistic and inner qualities indeed to make you as unique as you believe yourself to be.

Black – Stylish and sophisticated are two words that are almost always associated with you. People have a tendency to think of you as elegant yet mysterious at the same time. Black also has the tendency to evoke thoughts of power and nobleness granting you the esteem of others.

Waterdeep

I keep meaning to blog this, just in case it makes anyone want to go buy these cd's. These are the latest from Waterdeep (and lots of others) and they were produced by Don Chaffer. I would buy anything that Waterdeep does, defiantly, but I have these CD's and they are wonderful! I listened to them for about 2 weeks straight after I got them, and I am still listening!


You can order them from Waterdeep.com

Songs from the Voice, Volume 1: Please Don’t Make Us Sing This Song
Waterdeep

Friends from all over the country flew to Kansas City, and in four days, we recorded an album of worship songs. There were no overdubs; we did it all live together in the studio, playing everything from acoustic guitars to organs to auto harps to synthesizers and DJ rigs. The songs are written pretty much verbatim from the texts of Psalms in a new translation of the Bible that’s being put out by Thomas Nelson. It should be available in stores any day now. If you don’t buy it here, go to your local Christian bookstore, and ask them about it. You may need to tell them that Thomas Nelson is selling it (they’re typically a bookseller, not a music seller).

Songs from the Voice, Volume 2: Son of the Most High
Waterdeep

Once again, talented friends and musicians flew from all over the country to Kansas City to record another album, live in the studio, in just 4 days. This time we used the same scripture references from Handel’s “Messiah” but again, used the new translation of the Bible that’s being put out by Thomas Nelson.

They are running a special for Christmas, which is both CD's for $23 ( instead of $14 apiece).

The Voice Volumes- Includes the 2 newest cds from the Waterdeep camp, Songs from the Voice Volumes 1 & 2. They are both collaborative efforts from many talented artists including: Tyler Burkum (of Audio Adrenaline), Tara Leigh Cobble, Steven Delopoulos (of Burlap to Cashmere), Sara Groves, Maeve, Sandra McCracken, Andrew Osenga (of Caedmon's Call), Jill Paquette, Kendall Payne, Andrew Peterson, Jill Phillips, Robbie Seay Band, Jami Smith, Derek Webb, Matt Wertz, Seth Woods, & Waterdeep. Waterdeep appears on both albums. $23

Our Vacation

Well, we had a nice little vacation over the Thanksgiving weekend. Faron has been working so much and life has been so busy lately that we decided to throw tradition to the wind this year and take off on our own. We drove about 4 hours away to Springfield, for no reason really, it was just a place to get away to. We had no plans and didn't really want a whole bunch of activities. We just wanted to relax, which we did. We hung out in our hotel, swam and even watched some TV (gasp). We spent a little time writing down some of our goals and plans, talking through some desires and such, but mostly we just rested.

We did go on a couple of fun little activities, so I am posting pictures of those for your viewing pleasure.

These pictures are of the girls on their pony ride. We went to one restaurant twice because it was fun and the kids really liked it. It was Lambert's (the girls liked it right away because the have recently seen that old cartoon called Lambert the Sheepish Lion) and it is famous for being the "home of the throwed rolls". Every couple minutes a guy comes out yelling "hot rolls, hot rolls" and if you want one you just raise your hand and he throws one at you. They all thought it was great.

Anyway, everybody thinks it is great because we had to wait over an hour both times we went (once it was 3 in the afternoon, and it was still an hour and twenty minute wait!). In the parking lot next door to Lambert's these wise people had set up pony rides, so we rode.

No vacation is complete without a trip to the zoo. Well, this seems to be the case for us anyway. We went to the zoo in Springfield and had a grand time. We walked forever, but the kids had lots of fun looking at animals and Alexander even learned a new type of animal. Until now every animal has been a dog. For a brief couple of days he did say cat, but that is over now and everything is a dog again. However, at the zoo he also learned "bird". So now there are two categories of animals, dogs, and birds.




These otters put on a good show for us. I'm pretty sure they were actually putting on a show, the looked over and saw us at the window and moved their game over so that it would be right in front of us. They were fun to watch!

Alexander liked the snakes, apparently boys are born liking gross things, who knew!
He also liked to hitch a ride on the girls wagon. Faron was pulling them and he would grab a hold of the back of the wagon and I could let go of his stroller while he rode along with them. Pretty soon he also figured out that if he wiggled his waist it would make the stroller move back and forth and take him on a fun ride!

Giraffe's are pretty cool when you see them this close up. This must be the thing at zoos these days, because this was our second time to experience it. We bought the little crackers and the kids got to feed the giraffe, look at that tongue!